About KAF

This video contains clips of past Author Forums, giving a taste of the live Forum evenings, which are taped by KET, Kentucky Educational Television, for distribution nationally through PBS member stations.The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum is a non-profit, nationally-recognized literary event. Author Forum programs carefully match an author and interviewer; their hour-long candid conversation takes place before a live audience at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. The event is taped and distributed by KET, airing as the series “Great Conversations” on PBS member stations across the country.The University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum was originally created as a cultural, educational effort, sponsored by the University of Louisville, in honor of its bicentennial. Over time, the Forum has grown and welcomed two additional sponsors: Brown-Forman and The Humana Foundation. These programs have blossomed into one of the best author series on public television, with “Great Conversations” now airing in top tier markets of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, among others, nationwide.The vision of Mary Moss Greenebaum, founder and producer of the Author Forum, was that the University of Louisville, given its academic and cultural relationship with the Louisville community, was a natural focal point to create a world-class author event. The first Forum- Senator Bill Bradley, in conversation with Eleanor Clift- took place on May 13, 1996, in The Kentucky Center’s Bomhard Theatre, on a stage set by Bittners, creating the warm and intimate setting of a private library.Describing her vision of the Author Forum, whose format remains consistent today, Mary Moss Greenebaum said, “I sought from the beginning to create a particular mood for the Forum: the audience should feel they are eavesdropping on a conversation they never expected to hear. Where else could one possibly hear Jane Goodall saying goodnight- in chimpanzee-to her interviewer, Dr. Richard Wrangham, Chair of Anthropology at Harvard?”